Burr Hole to Blue Hole: A Surgeon's Desert Diving
Posted By Charles Engles on 13 February 2006
So, in view of my isolation, infrequent dive trips and mostly self-taught skills, I agreed with Aharon's proposal of a four-day session to work on freediving style and techniques. It seemed...eccentric to drive from one land-locked town in Oklahoma to another in New Mexico, but one must be flexible when it comes to freediving.
I loaded the car with four wetsuits of varying thickness, four masks, hooded vest, gloves, a thermos of coffee, books-on-tape and launched a seven hour drive west to the Blue Hole in Santa Rosa, New Mexico.
After overcoming some local and regional telecommunication problems, I met Aharon and the rest of the group, which included two other DeeperBlue contributors: Cliff Etzel and Nico Danan. Cliff was in search of underwater video material for his latest projects and Nico, a citizen of the world who is French but lives in Santa Fe, was practicing his monofin technique. They'd had some practice already, while I was incommunicado and strung out from the road.
We began with a didactic session. Aharon introduced his Twenty Safety Rules, which were not quickly skimmed over. I decided not to, eh, disclose to Aharon those of my misadventures that confirmed the wisdom of several these rules.
Aharon's rules are based on human nature (don’t dive alone and don’t Rambo to depth) and physiology. The foundations of each rule and the consequences of violation were covered in detail. Some of his rules were directly applicable to my own diving adventures.
As an example, I occasionally equalize on ascent, assuming that my squeaky ears benefit from a gentle Frenzel on the way up. It had never occured to me that the squeaks had anything to do with re-expansion of the air I'd taken in on the surface and compressed during the descent. The bell went off. Aharon was right.
Another example was the emphasis on surface ventilation, not only to optimize O2 and CO2 (of course !) but to also begin apnea with a dive- reflex-enhancing bradycardia.
I was given an assignment to read his Freedivers Course Manual overnight.
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